The present invention concerns a device for artillery for detonation by percussion of a primer.
The present invention also concerns an artillery piece having a detonation device according to the first aspect of the invention.
Numerous types of devices for detonation by percussion of a primer are known. In general, a device of this kind has a percussion rod configured to slide axially inside a housing, in the percussion direction toward the front of the housing or in the opposite direction toward the rear thereof; means for causing the rod to move back toward the rear of the housing to its armed position against the action of a counteracting arming spring; means forming a lock, configured to come into engagement with complementary means for locking the rod in its armed position; means for displacing the means forming a lock so as to release the rod; and means for returning the rod to the locked armed position in the event of a misfire.
A device configured for installation on an artillery piece breech having a breechblock that is movable between the flanges of a breech ring is, for example, known. A device of this kind is rearmed by tensioning a spring at the opening of the breechblock after a munition is fired, the breechblock having for example a slider which pushes the percussion rod back to its armed position. The lock which keeps the rod in the armed position is disengaged from the rod by means of an actuator which actuates the lock directly or by means of a pivoting lever, in the case of a normal munition firing actuation.
In the event of a misfire, when the munition has not functioned, the arming spring must be tensioned manually and the lock must be disengaged manually. As a result, these time-consuming and delicate operations must be performed under poor safety conditions with a risk of sudden explosion since the munition is still in the barrel: specifically this involves uncoupling the actuator, hooking a firing lanyard into a rearming ring and passing the lanyard into a pulley to allow remote rearming, and lastly hooking that same lanyard into a hole in the lock or pivoting lever so the lock can be released and detonation can occur.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the known devices and propose a detonation device which makes it possible to rearm and perform a detonation in a single movement, performed remotely, with no operation .on the equipment, especially in the case of a misfire.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, the device of the aforesaid type is characterized in that it also has a slide block configured to slide axially inside the housing; that the rod is itself configured to slide axially with respect to the slide block in response to or against the action of the counteracting arming spring which is arranged between the slide block and the rod; that the means forming a lock are mounted on the slide block or on the rod and are configured to lock the rod in the armed position with respect to the slide block; and that the device additionally has return means configured, in the event of a misfire, to bring the slide block and rod toward the rear into respective predetermined misfire positions, and means for displacing the slide block or the rod with respect to one another from said respective predetermined misfire positions so as to return the rod to its locked armed position with respect to the slide block.
The device according to the invention thus makes it possible to avoid all the dangerous and time-consuming operations required with the known device, and to return the rod to the armed position without presenting the slightest risk to the persons operating the artillery piece in question.
According to an advantageous version of the invention, the return means comprise elastic means acting between the housing and the slide block and configured to bring the slide block back into its predetermined misfire position with respect to the housing, and means of the slide block configured to come into engagement with complementary means of the rod in order to bring the rod back into its predetermined misfire position; the means for displacing the slide block or the rod with respect to one another comprise complementary meshing means mounted respectively on the housing and on the slide block or on the rod, configured to displace the slide block toward the front or the rod toward the rear of the housing when those means are actuated, the latter having a pinion mounted rotatably on the housing and in engagement with complementary means mounted on the slide block or on the rod, and the pinion being rotationally integral with a pulley on which is wound a lanyard allowing remote actuation of rotation of the pulley, as well as a retractable stop mounted on the rod or on the slide block and configured to come into engagement with a complementary configuration of the housing to prevent displacement of the rod toward the front or of the slide block toward the rear of the housing upon operation of the means for displacing the slide block or the rod with respect to one another, and complementary means of the slide block and of the rod to retract the retractable stop when the rod has arrived in its armed position with respect to the slide block.
According to a preferred version of the present invention, the means forming a lock are configured to lock the rod in the armed position with respect to the slide block when the rod is in its rear position with respect to the slide block, the pinion is engaged with complementary meshing means provided on the slide block, the misfire position of the slide block is its rear position with respect to the housing, the retractable stop is mounted on the rod; and the winding of the lanyard on the pulley and the arrangement of the pinion and the complementary meshing means of the slide block are such that pulling on the lanyard causes the slide block to be displaced toward the front of the housing.
The lanyard and pulley thus make it possible, after a normal rearming following firing of a munition, to advance the slide block and the rod toward the front of the housing until the means forming a lock disengage to release the percussion rod. In the event of a misfire, the lanyard and pulley make it possible to displace the slide block toward the front of the housing with respect to the rod, which is immobilized by the stop, until the slide block arrives in a position allowing operation of the means forming a lock, which returns the rod to the armed position with respect to the slide block, and to continue forward displacement of the slide block to cause a release of the percussion rod under conditions identical to those of normal operation of the device.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the artillery piece having a device for detonation by percussion of a primer is characterized in that it has a device according to the first aspect of the invention.
According to a preferred version of the invention, the artillery piece, having a breechblock that is movable between the flanges of a breech ring, is characterized in that the detonation device is fastened to the breech ring; and that the breechblock has means for causing the percussion rod to move back toward the rear of the housing to its armed position when the block moves from its closed-breech position to its open-breech position after a munition has been fired.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become evident from the detailed description below.